Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Health Issues

Yesterday I did not clean up a particularly voluminous vomit of Rudy's right away, forgetting all about it, and yep...you guess it...slid on it in bare feet, adding my spilled coffee to the mess. Still, it was an easy clean-up, and it served as a "wake-up" to take him to the vet.

I love my present vet...Dr. Dougie. (Oh, they are all so young these days!) It's just that I don't have the stamina to take on any more chronic health issues, though denying them doesn't work. First of all, Rudy is feeling great, playing and eating as always. It's just that I can see that his gums are somewhat inflamed, he has a nonproductive hacking cough and frequent projectile vomiting....but, not every day.

Rudy weighed in at 12 pounds! It's the heaviest he has ever been! At least two, if not 3, pounds overweight. The diagnosis: Stomatitis (the dreaded word!)...a mild case...and asthma. Vomiting is possibly a food allergy or a "simple" matter of eating too fast.

He will be 6 next month, on Thanksgiving.....Much too young for such chronic issues. (Zippy was 15 when he got stomatitis) He is also much too fast and much too willful to be treated with an inhaler or with oral medication. We settled with a steroid shot. Now, to stay on top of this.....